Trouble is Brewing: Exploring the Relationship Between Time of Coffee Consumption and Short-Term Memory Performance

Abstract

Many high school students drink coffee either in the morning before a test to feel more awake or the night before a test so they can stay up later to study. However, it is unclear if it is more beneficial to a student’s memory, and therefore test performance, to drink coffee at night or in the morning. A case study experiment was performed in which six participants underwent two trials. In each trial, participants consumed coffee at varying times before taking a short-term memory test the following morning. Based on these test scores, the time at which coffee had the most beneficial effect on memory test performance was determined for each participant. It was found that the time of day that caffeine is consumed affects each high school student’s short-term memories differently based on personal factors, such as caffeine sensitivity. Although limited, these findings add to the field of research and have practical implications in terms of test performance for high school students.